24 l\1Î111i, Manon Lescau t, Desdell1onc:1." "Ev} can take this 1110dern stuff c:lnd 111ake it sound almost pleasant, be- cause she's so bloody musical," Mr. SteWtlrt sc:lid. "But she nead} sacnficed ] .. 1 " 1er VOIce In t 1e process. "Three years ago, I went through 1 .." M . L . d " 1 a voca cnSIS, lSS ear sal . couldn't spin pianissimi, I couldn't float high notes, I couldn't support, and I was always hoarse. Finally, our 111an- c:lger-a twenty-four-year-old genius nc:lmed Matthew Epstein-persuaded Ille to drop IllOSt of ll1Y modern reper- toire and sent 111e to Daniel Ferro, a teacher at the Manhattan School of Music. In six weeks, Ferro relaxed 111Y throc:1t and 111Y jc:1W so that I could "ing natu} any again. Prc:lctically ever) so- prano gets into vocal trouble at some point in her career. If she comes out of it before she's forty, she can sing for tlnother twenty years. But if the crisis C0111es after forty, or if she gets bad I " 1 ,"" (l( VIce, t Jat SIt. "I had a vocal crisis when we were starting out in Berlin," Mr. Stewart said. "l-\S I reI11emher, ] worked Iny \\itlY out of it h) singing nothing but bc:lsic e>..ercises for severall11onths." JANVARY 2. 2., I 9 7 2. got--Fulbnghts to study at the Hoch- schule für Musik in Berlin. \Ve figured that with a year of European study be- hind us we could teach in a unIversity. But six weeks after we arrived, Tom auditioned for Carl Ebert, who \vas then the head of the Be rlin Opera, and \vas offered a three-year contract." "I was a bass, but the} needed a bass-bc:1ritone, so that's what they got," Mr. Stewart said. "Now 1'111 described as a H eldenbariton." Miss Lear joined the Berlin Opera a year later, and, with the security of long-terIll contracts, both Stewart" set- tled down to learn their craft. "It's ec:lSY to get lost in a big house when you're a beginnèr," Mr. Stewart said. "\"\That we did was fight ou r way out of this box. We learned roles we weren't scheduled to sing, and we badgered people into letting us do them without orchestra rehearsals. \\T e were always available." "A d . d " M . L ...'""In we never sal no, ISS eetr c:tdded. "1 agl eed to sing Lulu in 1960, not realizing it was one of the most difficult vocal scores in opera. \\Then I did look at the 111usic, 1 nearly fainted. But Lulu was 111Y break. That same year, Tom took over the part of ...\m- fortas in 'Parsifal' on three weeks' no- tice when the man who was scheduled to sing it got sick. Tom hadn't seen or heard 'ParsiLtl.' " "Now We plan at least a year ahead," Mr. Stewart sdld. "We'l e singIng 'TosCc:l' to- gether for the first tÏtue ne'Xt winter, and we've alread y started working out the stage business. l--here's (1 tricky 1110- ll1ent when Evy stabs 111( in the chest at the end of the second .lct. 1'111 trying to in1- press her with the idea thett if she draws real blood she's go- c. 7' ing to lose that e'\.tl a golf stroke." "HoVi did the two of yon get to I3erlin? " we dsked. "We Illet when we were J uilliard students," Miss Lear said. "i\nd we got 111arried befol e we had tÏ111e to con- sider the danger of having two vocal Cc:lreers in one faI11ily. Then we spent yec:lrs try ing to get started in New York. We auditioned for the Met, the Chy ()pere1, and innumerable Broad- Wc:1Y shows. We toured with a con- densed version of 'Kiss Me, Kate.' We survived for 1110nths on the Illoney TOIll Inade from a radio talent-com- petition show called 'Chance of a Life- time.' He sang things like '01' Man J{iver,' and was eventually beaten by a Iuan who played Swiss bells." " I . h " M S t was a nIg tmare, r. tewart said. "I had a faIllily to support- E vy has two children by d previous 111ar- riage-and we were literally living froI11 hand to 111outh. Then sOIllebody persuaded l11e to become a singing cow- boy. I took guitar lessons and audi- tioned fOI i\rthur Godfrey, hut he turned l11e down, on the ground that I f . I " was too pro eSSIona . "Thelt was rock bottom," said Miss Lear. "So in 1 9 5 7 \ve applied for-and /" .:.-----"' ((]t's an .I1malgamated Fund Appeal for the Untted Nattons, the Democratic Party, /)enn Central, Columbia University, the Catholic Church, Governor Rockefeller, and City Hall-to name a few)) Embarkation W E were aboard the S.S. F rance, the world's long- est liner, last vveek, on the .1ft- ernoon of a Inassive ctnbal- kation. The France was about to begin a ninety-one-dav tour of the world, and there was considerable activity on each of her cleven decks. On the Ve- randa I)eck t Pont V éranda ) , a hip young public-relations [nan was telling Illem bers of the press how expensive the tour would be for SOIlle of the